The unstimulated saliva production of a healthy adult can range from about 0.08 ml/min to about 1.85 ml/min with the average being about 0.3 ml/min. Stimulation, through either gustatory or masticatory means, may increase the rate of saliva production between about 3 to about 6 fold.
There are many techniques for the collection of an oral fluid such as saliva for analysis. For example, a device may be placed in the mouth of a subject and saliva obtained through vacuuming, absorption, and aspiration. Alternatively, an oral fluid expectoration method may be used in which the subject expectorates saliva into a collection container.
The collection and analysis of a biological fluid, such as saliva, is performed for a variety of reasons ranging from diagnosis of disease to detection of drugs or other substances. In some cases, the fragility or hazardous nature of the sample requires that the sample is tested or preserved immediately. Many clinical situations require a sample of a collected specimen to be isolated for use. In many cases, multiple different tests must be performed on the sample which may require the sample to be divided into separate portions. Separate portions may also be needed in the case of storage for future testing or shipping to a centralized laboratory.
In the prior art, if different portions of a sample were required for testing purposes, the subject would either have to give a new sample, which may be difficult for some patients, or the sample that was obtained would have to be separated into different portions by a technician. Separating the sample into different portions would pose a risk to the technician who handles the specimen since separating the sample would generally entail opening the specimen container and pouring or extracting portions of the sample to be placed into separate containers. This practice runs the risk of contamination of the sample as well as the risk of exposing the technician to any disease contained within the sample. In addition, during transfer of the sample into separate portions, the specimen samples may degrade or be damaged which will affect the integrity of the test results.
Given the shortcomings of the prior art, what is needed is a method of obtaining separate portions of the same sample without the risk of contamination and exposure that is experienced in the prior art.